Saturday, 17 May 2014

Our monthly DBA3 game fielded the army
Bavaria against an Austrian Coalition using the same composition as the
previous game. This evening’s game was played between Peter and Owen, two
veteran DBM-ers who have now played a number of DBA3 games.

This however, was the first time with late
medieval forces whose composition of troop types promised to test their skills.

Both sides deployed strong centers with
the majority of knights facing each other across open terrain. On the Austrian
right, the Swiss formed up against a mixed force of knights and foot. In the
previous game, the Swiss crumbled before the Bavarian foot, so I was curious if
this would be repeated.

Unfortunately, I became so involved taking
mental notes, I frequently forgot to take photos.

This first photo shows the initial
deployment.

A brief summary.

The Austrians moved both flanks to engage
the enemy while the center held back to employ better their massed guns. The
Bavarians having less artillery were compelled to engage the Austrians as quickly
as possible. The Bavarians may have lacked artillery, but had an advantage of
crossbowmen to compensate.

The Bavarians moved slowly forward so as
to be able to fire while moving. This approach delivered a number of enemy
recoils but for the most part had little effect.

By bound four, the Swiss were earning
their reputation making good use of their pike supported by blade. The
following turn brought more losses, such that the Bavarian left wavered and
became demoralised.

Second photo shows the position at the end of bound two.

Quite the opposite was happening on the
Bavarian right as their knights bested the Austrians to demoralize them on the
following bound.

Time was called on what was a very close
game as both sides, having lost a command each were so close toward claiming a second. We finished the evening with some interesting observations and comparisons with DBM.

The both liked the flank support option among blade, crossbow and spear.

Only the Swiss had pikes while both Austrian and Bavarians made use of spear.

Psiloi or skirmishers were becoming very useful and no longer the cannon fodder they used to be.

Pursuing blade were instrumental in knocking out the Bavarian left, while the Bavarians made good use of their knights supported by solid foot on the opposite flank.

Our next game, scheduled in two weeks, will bring us back to the ancient period with a larger game during the Marcommani wars.